In FED We Trust (47 page)

This book was possible only because of the cooperation of Federal Reserve officials willing to spend time talking candidly to a reporter even while the Great Panic raged. I’m particularly grateful to Ben Bernanke, Don Kohn, Kevin Warsh, Tim Geithner, and Rick Mishkin and their public relations staff, Michelle Smith and David Skidmore in Washington and Calvin Mitchell in New York. At the Treasury, Hank Paulson, Bob Steel, Phillip Swagel, David Nason, David McCormick, Neel Kashkari, and public relations staff Michele Davis and Jennifer Zuccarelli all were helpful, as were Keith Hennessey and Tony Fratto at the White House. Several other Fed and Treasury staff helped me piece together the story. Their careers would not be enhanced by mentioning their names, so I thank them anonymously. Alan Greenspan was generous with his insights. Anil Kashyap of the University of Chicago and Damian Paletta of the
Wall Street Journal
read early drafts and offered useful advice. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars gave me a quiet place to think and write.

At a time of turmoil in the newspaper industry, the
Wall Street Journal
remains the best place in America to practice journalism. I relied heavily on the reporting of my colleagues there, especially Greg Ip, Jon Hilsenrath, Kate Kelly, Sara Murray, Damian Paletta, Joellen Perry, Sudeep Reddy, and
Deborah Solomon. Bob Davis, Laurie McGinley, Brenda Cronin, and Mitra Kalita kept the paper’s economics bureau going while I was away. Jerry Seib was always available to listen and dispense his sage advice.

Raphael Sagalyn, my agent, began encouraging me to consider a book about the Fed long before the Great Panic, and provided wise and patient counsel from conception to completion. John Mahaney at Crown offered both welcome enthusiasm and acute editing. Howard and Nathan Means strengthened the manuscript with efficiency and skill. Shelly Perron delivered meticulous copyediting.

Most of all, I’m grateful to my wife, Naomi Karp, who never once complained as this book preoccupied me, and instead offered unflagging support and love.

David Wessel is economics editor of
The Wall Street Journal
and writes the Capital column, a weekly look at forces shaping living standards around the world. A native of New Haven, Connecticut, and a 1975 graduate of Haverford College, David joined
The Wall Street Journal
in 1983 after working at the
Middletown (Conn.) Press
, the
Hartford Courant
, and the
Boston Globe
. He was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in business and economics journalism at Columbia University in 1980-81, and has shared two Pulitzer Prizes. David and his wife, Naomi Karp, live in Washington, D.C. They have two children, Julia and Ben.

Copyright © 2009 by David Wessel

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Business, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

CROWN BUSINESS
is a trademark and
CROWN
and the Rising Sun colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

eISBN: 978-0-307-45970-1

v3.0